Weight Loss Tips for Teenagers

In the article I’m going to tell you about Weight Loss Tips for Teenagers. Being a teenager can be good and bad. It gets bad when you find you are overweight and just can’t manage to lose those pounds. You feel bad about it, everybody is looking at you, nobody wants to be your friend – nobody. Probably not many people notice, but you think they do and that’s as bad – time to do something about it.

So what are you doing wrong? How did you get like this? Easy – eating junk food and not getting enough exercise, it could happen to anybody. A few people have a medical condition, so if you have really tried everything and are still overweight do check with your doctor. But usually being overweight is just a junk food attack. Often overweight people don’t much like exercise, so they get stuck in a rut by not burning off the calories they eat, which are probably too many anyway. The pounds go on and they are in trouble. The good news is it’s nothing like as hard to lose weight as you think. You just have to know what to do and why. Here are a few weight loss tips for teenagers.

Are you really overweight? Not everybody who thinks they are overweight is. Google ‘BMI’ (Body Mass Index). This is a way of telling if you are above or below average. You just type in height, weight and age into a simple form and you will get an answer. Do make sure your age is included, as this can make a big difference to the results.

No blame: If you are overweight there is no point blaming yourself, your parents, your friends or McDonalds. Fix the problem, don’t worry about it.

Start with breakfast: Always eat a healthy breakfast. A cup of coffee is not enough; a full English breakfast is too much. Have toast and fruit juice along with your coffee, or something similar. Be careful with cereals, many are mostly sugar. Use skimmed milk or soya milk with cereals or coffee.

Do not snack: Snacks make you fat, which is why you should eat breakfast to avoid getting hungry later in the day. Have a piece of fruit mid-morning and keep an apple in your pocket in case you get hungry later.

Beware of fast food: Not all fast food is junk food, but fast food outlets are the worst places to eat healthy food. You will be surrounded by tempting unhealthy food and why tempt yourself? Give fast food a miss.

Avoid chocolate: Never say never, but do cut down on chocolate. Some people say chocolate is good for you. Maybe, but remember it takes an hour’s walking to burn off the calories in a bar of chocolate. There are not many slim chocoholics.

Alcohol: Most teenagers drink and it would be unrealistic to suggest you stop. Just go easy. Excessive drinking does not only lead to un-cool vomiting in the street or waking up in the morning with strange company – it makes you fat.

Exercise: Touchy subject. You are probably overweight because you didn’t exercise much and now you don’t want to exercise because you are overweight. The bottom line is it is a lot harder to lose weight by diet alone. The good news is you only need to do 30 minutes a day and that can be 15 minutes morning and 15 minutes evening if you prefer it. Exercise can be anything you enjoy, dancing, swimming, walking, or playing games. It doesn’t have to be pumping iron in a gym if you don’t want to.

What should you be eating? Swap you old food for plenty of salads and vegetables, fruit, lean meat, brown rice and bread, avoid refined food like white bread or white rice. Look on this site for healthy food ideas.

Parents: If you can get your parents on side it is half the battle. If they are overweight themselves they may not think weight matters, or maybe they are worried about you having eating problems. Try to explain you just want a healthier lifestyle.

Be careful: You are trying to lose some weight not a massive amount. Be happy with a pound less each week, take your time, reach a good weight then reduce the exercise to try and maintain it. You will, of course be growing as well but you will know your best fitness level. Don’t go back to eating junk food; this is a lifestyle choice not a diet. Be very aware of eating disorders, if you feel you must get thinner and thinner see your doctor. Don’t put it off – people die that way, just do it.

I hope these weight loss tips for teenagers help. Don’t go on a fast weight loss diet, it won’t work, just eat healthy food, exercise and enjoy yourself. That’s all there is to it.